Tagged: fantasy basketball

So is your draft day around the corner? You’ve got your sleepers, busts, and sure-things lined up and ready to go? NOT SO FAST. Before you pull the trigger and draft these players, take a step back and think about their values.

Jeremy Lin

Jeremy Lin is stepping into the big big shoes of his predecessor, Yao Ming. As the new face of the Houston Rockets franchise there is a ton of pressure on the Harvard grad to live up to his massive back-loaded contract. So what can we expect from Lin now that he isn’t playing with the likes of Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire?

A fair amount actually. Here is a quick breakdown of what to expect from Lin.

He’s going to have a ton of turnovers

Lin was never good at taking care of hte ball. Even during the high point of Linsanity he still averaged more than 3 turnovers a game. Let’s say he plays 3 times a week, that’s at least 10 turnovers from a single player every week. Now that teams know what he is capable of, point guards are going to be coming after Lin with a vengeance. Nobody wants to fall to the newest hot point guard in the league.

Points and assists and steals and points and assists and steals

Expect him to be the leading scorer with the Houston Rockets. The Rockets completely revamped their roster this year and there are only 4 players that have more than 5 years of NBA experience. WIth 4 new rookies expect Kevin McHale to be constantly tinkering with his lineups. Jeremy Lin, Kevin Martin, and Omer Asik are probably slated for consistent minutes but the substitutions as as well as the other starters are completely in the air. Kevin Martin can score in bunches but he’s probably on his way out of the rebuilding Houston because of his contract.

Lin is great on defence so you can rely on him as a solid source of steals but his percentages will be mediocre at best .

He couldn’t do it for half a shortened season, he can’t do it for a full season

If you want a solid, consistent, and healthy option, you should definitely look somewhere else. Lin is good in short bursts and will definitely have the occasional monster game, but don’t expect 20/10 on a nightly basis.

First on Deck- Kevin Martin

Kevin Martin is due to make 12.5 million dollars this year. Kevin Martin is also on a contract year, Kevin Martin is going to be huge this year. Regardless of whether he finishes the season with the Rockets, Martin is going to play his ass off to get a big paycheque next season. He has always been a great shooter with great percentages. His numbers will be very similar to that of Marcus Thornton. Plenty of 3’s, points, high percentages, and nothing else. However he has looked amazing in preseason and can always fill the score sheet.

What’s Left?

Everyone thought that Omer Asik was wildly overpaid this season. WIth the exact same contract as Lin (30 million over three years), people thought that this contract was ridiculous for someone who averaged 4 rebounds, 3 points, and shot less than 50% from the free throw line. However he is a hustler, and hustlers who are 7 feet tall tend to grab a couple rebounds. Although his field goal percentage hasn’t been amazing in the preseason expect his points to pick up with more playing time. Throughout the pre-season he has averaged 8 points, 11 rebounds, 75% free-throw, and 47% field goal. All while also getting just under a steal and a block per game.

Asik is definitely a solid late-round draft pick, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he went earlier than that.

This article will talk about the lucky few that made it through the draft and all the way to the end of my season. You can view my entire team roster from start to finish here

I like to think that I built my team around a solid core. I felt that I had a sizeable advantage in assists, rebounds, three’s, and points. I usually find that field goal percentages and free throw percentages can go either way, so I try to not focus too heavily on that aspect. My team wasn’t amazing in the field-goal percentage department but it also didn’t have anyone to sink my free throw percentages.

Of the 13 I drafted, 5 still remained in my final team. Those were:

Rudy Gay

Rudy Gay was absolutely essential to my team, his ability to do everything really kept my core from falling apart. He came back from a shoulder injury last season to be the primary scorer for the Memphis Grizzlies, and even meshed well with the return of Zach Randolph. Although I was a little disappointed with his drop in free-throw and field goal percentages this season, his ability to score, shoot the three ball, rebound, and steal made him a fantastic compliment with my next player.

Jeff Teague

Jeff Teague was my primary source of steals throughout the entire season. Although for a point guard he doesn’t rack up that many assists he does play very consistently. Considering it’s only his second year playing for a slow offense like Atlanta it was nice to see him almost average a three a game and just below 2 steals a game. He was also able to throw in the occasional block which was very surprising to me. Throughout the season I found that I was able to beat many teams because of my team’s underrated ability to block. With Gay and Teague throwing in blocks here and there throughout the weeks, the addition of my next player rounded out my universal team.

Kris Humphries

I certainly don’t hate you because you were a massive rebounder. Even though your scoring average doesn’t suggest it you came through with a massive game whenever I needed it. It’s amazing how bad the New Jersey Nets were with only Deron Williams as the reliable scorer. Thankfully Humphries stepped into the role with a polished offensive game, and massive put-back dunks. Toss in those points and Kris Humphries should go, latest, in the 6th round.

Like I said my team didn’t stand out in the blocks category but it did manage to beat those that were merely “average” at it. My next player almost never got a block a game though.

Jose Calderon

He led the league in assist to turnover ratio for much of the early season, and boy was he a spark plug to my team. He doesn’t hurt your team in any categories and you almost find yourself wishing that he would shoot more. On some nights he would go off for 20+ points with a bunch of three’s and still get double digit rebounds. Those were the nights that I loved the Spaniard. I wish the Raptors would trade him to a team that truly had offensive weapons and his skills weren’t going to waste with this constantly rebuilding team. My next player did the smart thing and looked for a smarter team.

Chris Bosh

I should not have taken you in the 4th round. Yeah you quietly put together a solid season behind Dwyane Wade and Lebron James but you were absolutely in March. March is when I needed you and you couldn’t get a single game with double digit rebounds. You scored in buckets but what I really need was consistency, without consistency I couldn’t play you when you’re going through a day-to-day injury. Without consistency, I just didn’t really feel proud of having you on my team, and without consistency I couldn’t get the same trade value for you because the other managers constantly say “well.. he had some bad games”

This year I was in the same 12 team, H2H 10 category fantasy league as Durantin’ and Yung Money (Read about their seasons here and here). Unfortunately, I wasn’t as successful as them and finished 5th in the regular season and losing in an epic quarterfinal by 1 block that was awarded after a stat correction. At least I went down fighting.

Given the 6th overall pick, I used it to take Dwyane Wade in the first round followed by 2 big men in Al Horford and Serge Ibaka. I filled the rest of my lineup with a mix of guards and forwards. Peak my full draft day roster down below.

In this year’s fantasy league I was one of 12 owners in a H2H 10 category league. Full of surprises this year from the get-go. I was originally projected for the 5th overall pick which was Derrick Rose. However, one of the bush league rookie fantasy team owners decided to take D-Rose for his first overall pick. (He was supposed to take CP3 with his 3rd overall pick and 4th was supposed to get K Love). As luck would have it, I ended up with Kevin Love who I loved building around as you’ll see from who I drafted.

This season I played in a 12 man, H2H, 10 category league. We had two rookie managers and although the trading was a bit slower than I would’ve liked it was still an enjoyable experience.

The segment,“Fantasy Season in a Nutshell”, will talk about the team I drafted and the team I ended up with. Who I dropped, who I picked up, and who I traded to win the prize money. Yung Money also made the finals in my league, he will be chronicling his strategy too, you can find it here.

I had the fortune of receiving the 10th pick in my league and this is who I drafted in descending order. Continue reading →

Lebron James is a nightly triple-double threat. A small forward that can pass, rebound, and score at will, numbers wise he is the clear MVP of the league. His free throw shooting was long considered his weakness but it has risen from his average last year. The best thing about having James as your top pick is that you can have the freedom to draft anybody you want second because James is so versatily. Continue reading →